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When someone in the family becomes vegan

When someone in the family becomes a vegan is does take some re-adjustment. My son became a vegetarian some time ago and more recently a vegan (however he does stress he really loves his cheese). My only contact with vegan food wasn't a great experience and therefore I had a very stereotypical idea of what vegans ate and I all I could ever think of was lentils, loads of lentils!

The first thing I did was go and buy a stack of cookbooks for him and do some research online. In the era of blogging there is just so many great websites and I will now admit that some of the recipes look fantastic. Here are two of my favourite blogs that have simple recipes that anyone could cook, I am sure there are plenty more out there that are as good and yet to be found!

However when a young person becomes a vegan (and not around other vegans for advice) it is so important to guide them down a balanced diet and make sure they are getting all the goodness they need. It is so easy to miss out on some vital vitamins and minerals and and this can effect them both physically and mentally.

And a very special thanks to Sandy at Vegans Eat Yummy Food Too blog as she so often has photos of all the ingredients she uses in her vegan dishes which is such a help when I go shopping with my son. She has also introduced me to new ingredients such as nutritional yeast that I had never heard of but very high in Vitamin B. Its with this sort of knowledge I can assist my son and his diet.

Once a week I take my son out for lunch to a restaurant and of course, we need to make sure they have a vegan option. One of our favourite restaurants make really lovely dishes that are so beautifully presented and finally I have found dishes look great and taste great. I think in the past vegan/vegetarian meals were not presented very attractively (personal experience) and it really put me off.

Whilst I have no intentions of becoming vegan, I have certainly embraced my son's food decisions and will help him a long the way. It is no longer as daunting as I first thought and there really is so many options available. And I never thought you could make a vegan chocolate cake that looks this good, dairy free.

Recipe - this is in fact really handy for those of us who aren't vegan but run out of eggs!

Sharon does have amazing recipes and she's ultra lovely too :-) (from bit of the good stuff)So glad you've found it helpful to have the ingredient pics :-)I reckon cheese is the hardest to give up - but oh so worth it in the long run! :-) And you do eventually lose the taste for it after a while.I think its important for people to remember if you eat your daily calorie allowance in potatoes alone you get all the nutrients you need, often people are way too worried about single nutrients when they don't need to be, but just enjoy eating whole foods! And yes I agree that in the past there was such a 'stigma' around being vegetarian/vegan but it is slowly dying out as others realise we're still normal people ;-) lol

My son was very excited when he made vegan parmesan cheese using almond meal and nutritional yeast. He was amazed at how close the taste was to real parmesan cheese and now uses it on everything!! He just loves the stuff!!! We did buy some vegetarian cheese but I am waiting to hear the verdict.

When I take him shopping I look out for the things you use which is a great help - so yes, it is really good to list the ingredients.

Glad I appear 'normal' lol - ;-)I'm not keen on vegan cheeses personally and haven't had any in years - though I do hear that they are improving! Though I do also tend to stay away from processed foods anyway. Glad he has enjoyed nutritional yeast :-) I'm yet to hear of anyone who doesn't!!!!

It's wonderful that you're being supportive! As someone who has been vegetarian for nearly 20 years, and vegan for about 4, I have to say that it is really easy once you get the hang of it - AND a whole-foods vegan (not one who lives on Twizzlers & Oreos - which are both, in fact, Vegan ; ) doesn't need to worry about getting the right nutrition nearly as much as the fast food addict does. I think it's great that you're helping & supporting your son : )

(And, I agree that Sandy at Vegans Eat Yummy Food Too has a great blog! : )

Thanks for dropping by - my son is coming along well with his cooking and fortunately he loves cooking whole-foods and making things from scratch so his diet not to bad at present. I only discovered the other day that Oreos were vegan, never knew this!!

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